1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sheet discharge control performed by a sheet conveying apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Post-processing apparatuses are apparatuses for aligning, sorting, and stapling a plurality of sheets output from an image forming apparatus. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-206335 discloses an alignment plate that moves in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which sheets are discharged, in order to align a plurality of sheets discharged on a tray. In particular, the alignment plate abuts on a sheet bundle for a longer time than normal when a sheet stacked on the tray is the final sheet, thus improving alignment of the sheet bundle. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-206331 proposes an apparatus for improving productivity of post-processing performed on preceding sheets by superimposing several succeeding sheets on the preceding sheets.
Superimposing a plurality of sheets one above another and discharging them together, however, may create a situation in which preceding sheets already stacked on the tray are pushed out by a plurality of succeeding sheets due to the weight of the succeeding sheets. This may result in disturbance of sheet alignment.